The Beautiful Truth About Your Dying Day. {poetry}
Every day, every hour, the clock ticks. And whether we like it or not, every breath takes us closer to our deaths. Harsh, I know. But true. Don’t freak out. I have a point.
Since we will not live forever (at least in our current bodies, on the Earth plane), this brings a sense of urgency to anyone who cares. If you don’t care, and you don’t feel like you have much to do in this life besides feeding yourself and finding somewhere to kill some time on the weekends, then it’s all cool.
If you do want to make some waves, express yourself, and get some non-essential awesome done, then tuning into the ticking clock once in a while tends to bring some perspective to the situation. Especially as we get older.
Although I’m really not the morbid type, I was intrigued when my friend Jen told me she was penning a poem about Death in her writing workshop. I jumped all over that and wrote one myself. Because I’m all about poetry. And staring our greatest fears in the face tends to wake us up. And get our asses in gear.
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From the other side
if death were a thing, what would she be?
what would she define, and where would she draw her lines?
for me, for you and for everything else that breathes
(with ease or with trouble), her wiles are undeniable
call her a bitch, but she is your lover, whether you want her or not.
she will taunt you from the day you first meet
rattle around in the background, make sounds in your youth
but when she touches your people, her voice will resound.
you will try to move mountains, tame lions and talk sweet
but she is complete. she doesn’t care. her secrets are near but
you’ll never know which night she’ll kiss you, unexpected
(or dressed for the ball), maybe you can stall her —
seduce her with lies (when you talk to yourself)
but she melts every soul that ever dreamed
she applies her special pressure to every story
and every glory that you might attain during
your days will mean less than nothing
after her calling. but that doesn’t matter.
these things seem to push everything.
but that’s just your self-centered reasons.
this girl’s kiss holds mysteries that you cannot fathom.
cannot imagine. and even if you could,
it would not change your earth story. mornings
with strawberries. music
that sings the sweetness in your heart.
and when, at last, you melt into her, it will be pleasure
a million times better than sex, and pain so complex,
a million times worse than when your lover lied. when
your mother cried your name with blame and disappointment
it will ring horns of love louder than you have ever heard, burn
you at your core. demand the attention of planets. forever
yet not for a second.
so don’t be fooled. death knows every letter of your name.
she will haunt you and torture you but
she will never lie. and you will not know her face until you see her
from the other side.
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Jeff Leisawitz is an award-winning musician/ producer, a critically acclaimed author, and internationally distributed filmmaker who has devoted his life to the art of creativity. As the guy behind Electron Love Theory, Jeff fused interviews with Seattle’s WTO demonstrators into electronic music, garnering more than a quarter million downloads worldwide. Jeff has released five studio albums, and has landed more than 5,000 music placements in film, TV and multimedia, including clients like HBO, MTV, Discovery, Microsoft, NBC and many others. As the founding writer for Seattle’s taste-making alternative rock station 107.7 The End, he chronicled the alternative grunge scene in the 90s. After training as a Life Coach and practicing NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Re-Patterning) Jeff landed a gig as an adjunct faculty member at Pacific Lutheran University, teaching college students to rock (seriously). When creative businesses and organizations like Brown Paper Tickets, Tacoma School of the Arts, Avasta Press, and others need an awesome infusion, Jeff leads workshops and events to fire up the creative spirit and empower people to tap into their true potential. ‘Not F*ing Around: The No Bullsh*t Guide for Getting Your Creative Dreams Off the Ground’ is Jeff’s first book. You could contact him via his website.
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